Kaiser facilities won't close for strike

Tuesday

Jan 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2012 at 8:55 AM

STOCKTON - Beginning at 7 o'clock this morning, 46 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers are scheduled to begin a 24-hour strike against Kaiser Permanente facilities in Stockton, Manteca and Tracy. They are expected to be joined by hundreds of registered nurses and maintenance engineers in a sympathy walkout.

Joe Goldeen

STOCKTON - Beginning at 7 o'clock this morning, 46 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers are scheduled to begin a 24-hour strike against Kaiser Permanente facilities in Stockton, Manteca and Tracy. They are expected to be joined by hundreds of registered nurses and maintenance engineers in a sympathy walkout.

The local union members who work in mental health and optical services will be part of a much larger strike involving 4,000 NUHW members at Kaiser facilities throughout Northern California. They will be joined by more than 17,000 members of the California Nurses Association and 650 members of Stationary Engineers Local 39.

"Despite record profits over the last three years of more than $5.6 billion, Kaiser management is insisting on major reductions to workers' health care coverage and retirement benefits. NUHW members are committed to holding the line against these cuts, which Kaiser intends to impose upon tens of thousands more employees represented by other unions as their contracts come up for renewal over the next several years," union spokesman Leighton Woodhouse said in a statement.

Kaiser Senior Vice President for Human Resources Gay Westfall issued a statement in response, noting that the giant health care provider's first priority is the safety and care of its members and patients.

"We are prepared for this work stoppage, and we will continue to provide our members and patients with high-quality heath care and service from a fully staffed team. We want our members and patients to know that all Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical offices throughout Northern California will remain open during this one-day strike," Westfall said.

She said that the union's stance that Kaiser is proposing to eliminate retirement benefits is "simply untrue."

"Kaiser Permanente Northern California has been bargaining in good faith with NUHW for more than a year, and we will continue to do so. We have made significant progress, and have 31 signed tentative agreements with each NUHW unit. The next step in this process has been in NUHW's hands since last May. For more than eight months, NUHW has refused to respond to Kaiser Permanente's initial proposals on wages and benefits," Westfall said.

Stockton Kaiser medical assistant Jeffrey Taylor, a union member who has worked for Kaiser for the past eight years, said the provider is openly pushing benefit takeaways on union members.

"Since the beginning of the year, some co-workers have been charged up to $175 for (health insurance) co-pays, and we are supposed to have no co-pays except for office visits," Taylor said. He also said a rival health workers union - Service Employees International Union - is falsely telling Kaiser workers they will be disciplined if they participate in the strike.

"They are trying to play on the fear factor like they did last time, even though during the first strike (in September) nothing happened to anybody," Taylor said.

Today's walkout will be the fourth time NUHW Kaiser workers have walked the picket line since they began bargaining in 2010.